The former chief executive of a Western Australian country shire has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail for stealing almost $600,000, which he gambled away.

Dacre John Alcock, 44, stole the money between October 2011 and October 2015 when he was working for the Dowerin Shire in the state's Wheatbelt.

The District Court was told the funds were stolen from the shire's credit card, municipal and trust fund accounts and transferred into Alcock's online gambling and personal bank accounts.

Alcock falsified bank statements and tax invoices to try to cover up what he had done.

He did make payments totalling $28,000 to the credit card account, however the rest of the money was gambled away.

His crimes were uncovered when a bank queried some of the transactions on the shire's credit card account in 2015.

Alcock's laywer, Mark Andrews, said when his client started at the shire in 2008, he "inherited quite a lax system of financial recording and auditing" which he "was able to exploit to his own advantage".

Gambling addiction started at school

Mr Andrews said his client starting gambling when he was at boarding school and by the time his offences were uncovered he was gambling as much as $4,000 a week, mostly to try to "chase his losses" without any success.

Mr Andrews told the court that since he was charged, Alcock has undergone counselling and he no longer gambled.

Judge Felicity Davis described Alcock's offences as "very serious" and a "significant breach of trust".

She said Alcock's conduct was "devious and calculated", telling him he had gone to some lengths to cover up his offending.

Judge Davis also noted that as the shire's chief executive, Alcock was responsible for its financial controls.

"You were appointed in 2008, but you did nothing to rectify the situation or introduce more stringent financial controls, and then you took advantage of those lax financial controls," she told him.

"You took advantage of the trust the shire had placed in you."

Judge Davis said the shire and the community of Dowerin had suffered as a result of Alcock's offences and a number of projects, such as the refurbishment of the town hall, had to be abandoned or scaled back.

Alcock will have to serve two-and-a-half years before he can be released.

He was also ordered to pay more than $516,000 in compensation to the shire.

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